Thursday 23 October 2025.

Thursday 23 October 2025. THE BLOW MONKEYS + THE CHRISTIANS live at Shepherds Bush Empire. A 10 date co-headline tour where they alternate last band on. The Christians were last on when they played their Liverpool hometown show. When i worked front stage security at Hammersmith Odeon i saw both bands headline there in the late 1980s. Both bands had a few hit singles back then. The Blow Monkeys will be promoting their new album ' Birdsong'. Original singer Dr Robert is still with The Blow Monkeys. Original singer Garry Christian is still with The Christians . ------------- It is stalls seated tonight , but lots of unsold seats in all levels ...Level 3 is closed . When you think that in the old days they could both sell 4000 tickets each for a show at Hammersmith , and now together they can only muster around 500 ticket sales. A middle aged crowd as expected who remember them. Nice to see The Bodysnatchers singer RHODA DAKAR here. THE CHRISTIANS arrived on stage at 8pm for their 60 mins set. Hard to believe that Garry Christian is now aged 70,as he looks much younger . Throughout the set he was in in good spirits, with a sharp wit dealing with audience quips and joking about. Six of them on stage, with a nice smooth sound. For me , they were the best of the two bands tonight. Over 50 folks left the venue after The Christians set. Set highlights included... Forgotten Town Born Again Ideal World Words Greenbank Drive When The Fingers Point Hooverville Harvest for the World (The Isley Brothers cover) ( no 8 UK hit for them in 1988) THE BLOW MONKEYS arrived on stage at 9.30pm for their 60 mins set. Four of them on stage , with a sax/keyboard player. Their sound was a bit more funkier. A good set, but The Christians were better. Set highlights included... It Doesn't Have To Be This Way Out With Her Digging Your Scene Wait --------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------- Wednesday 22 October 2025. IGORRR live at Shepherds Bush Empire. Gautier Serre is better known by his stage name Igorrr, is a French musician. Under the Igorrr alias, he combines a variety of disparate genres, including black metal, baroque music, breakcore, and trip hop, into a singular sound. The Igorrr project became a full band with the addition of vocalists. ------------ Level 3 is half empty , but the rest of the venue is rammed full. Like last night, it is an evening of pure heavy noise. IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT arrived on stage at 7.30pm for their 35 mins set. New York experimental metal band have released several albums. The three band members wore costumes and employ a retro-futuristic stage presence. Gold and black are their primary colors for costumes and stage decor. They have pre-recorded images up on their screen. A nice noise, but the gruff vocals were not my cup of tea. Some of the vocals were synth tinged in places, to create a moody racket. The crowd liked them MASTER BOOT RECORD arrived on stage at 8.25pm for their 35 mins set. MBR is really Italian guitar player Victor Love, and his two band members. The entire set was really good rockin' guitar based instrumentals. They also had a screen, with computer images. Late in the set ,Victor would call his music ' Computer Metal'. A really good set . IGORRR arrived on stage at 9.30pm for their 75 mins set. The drums and keyboards / percussion are on raised platforms . Lots of lights . Igorrr's vocals are a bit gruff , but they also have nice female vocals singing full on opera, so it was quite a contrast. The mainly male crowd are headbanging away . Lots of crowd moshing and around 20 crowd surfers, and Igorrr himself crowd surfed into the crowd on the final encore song. A good evening of extreme metal. ----------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------- Tuesday 21 October 2025. COHEED AND CAMBRIA live at Brixton Academy. Coheed and Cambria is an American rock band from Nyack, New York, formed in 1995. The group's music incorporates aspects of progressive rock, pop, heavy metal, and post-hardcore. They have released several studio albums. I don't know much about them apart from the fact i have seen their names on Download Festivals and Reading/Leeds Festivals line-ups in the past. They headlined Brixton Academy in 2022 , but I have never seen them before. This is their second last show on their current UK & European Tour. --------------------------- Plenty of space upstairs and downstairs so maybe 3000 max out of 5000 tix sold . UNPEOPLE arrived on stage at 7.30pm for their 30 mins set. London four piece played a good set of tracks , full of crushing heavy riffs. AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR arrived on stage at 8.20pm for their 30 mins set . Four piece with two guitars from Northern Ireland played a full set of rockin' all instrumental tunes. COHEED AND CAMBRIA arrived on stage at 9.15pm for their 95 mins set. They have a great stage production, as loads of lights , a giant screen showing nice pre-recorded images , and a giant inflatable with goggles, that was up for all the main set. Like the support acts , all their equipment is pushed to the front half of the huge stage . The band are top notch musicians as they have a full on rock sound. Certainly a bit prog rock with hints of Rush and Biffy Clyro. The encores include a great cover of The Killers hit anthem ' Mr Brightside'. A really good show, much better than expected.

Posted 20th October 2025